THE LUMINEERS: FOLK ROCK BAND

The Lumineers: An American folk rock band, consisting of members Wesley Schultz, guitar/vocals, Jermiah Fraites, drums and Neyla Pekarek, cello/vocals, released their self titled debut album, THE LUMINEERS.

Their knee slapping tunes are in the order of Dylan with a meaningful message, infused with memorable melodies as Mumford and Sons, The Avett Brothers, and Phillip Phillips.

Currently the very catchy tune ‘Hey Ho’ has a lot of commercial value and is getting a wide range of radio play. You will recognize it immediately. 

Schultz & Fraites, are out of New Jersey originally and the songwriters of the group. In 2005 they became fed-up with the cutthroat music scene in the East so they packed up all their belongings and moved to Denver, where they met up with Pekarek.

The amazing story is this is their first time out, and they are Nominated for ‘Best New Artist’ and ‘Best Americana Album’ by Grammy to be presented on 2/10/2013, and the song ‘Hey Ho’ is a featured song in the Oscar Nominated movie “Silver Linings Playbook”

They are touring with the Dave Matthews Band beginning December 2012.

  

Link to: ‘Hey Ho’ as performed on SLN via Rolling Stone Magazine, on-line.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/the-lumineers-hit-snl-with-ho-hey-20130120

For more info on the Lumineers check out Link to People Magazine:

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20665871,00.html

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CONOR MAYNARD

The latest heart-throb out of the UK is Conor Maynard, a Pop/Dance recording artist, released his debut album CONTRAST, January 8, 2013.. In 2012 he released several singles from the album.

 Maynard came to the attention of Ne-yo who spotted him on YouTube doing one of his cover songs and got a hold of him and became his mentor. Ne-yo is feat on his song ‘Turn Around’

Maynard had been releasing videos on YouTube since 2006 and like Justin Bieber his popularity came from posting videos on YouTube, which each have over 13-18 million hits ea. for someone just starting out he is stirring up a lot of interest at a very fast pace.

The 20 year old could pass for a 15 year old in his appearance, but he sings with a good range of variety, tone and musicality for someone new to the business. Maynard’s appeal is not only his appearance, and voice, he has the flare of an R n’B/Pop star. He has some moves that are sure to add to his appeal, and get the young audiences dancing and screaming to his tunes.

Maynard has charted in every major market in Europe and is currently touring in the USA, and then the world, look for him in your city.  

  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwP6U0LRzQM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMTGcwZxdGg 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehSJ3e8_NgU

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OMAR AKRAM: PIANIST - NEW AGE MUSIC

Omar Akram, an American composer, pianist, recording artist of Afghan decent released his 4^th Studio album 

ECHOS OF LOVE, June 2012, and nominated for a Grammy 2013 for “Best New Age Album”. 

The hypnotic piano of Akram is inspired by Asian and European influences from his youth. As a son of an UN diplomat he had the opportunity to tour the world. Born in New York, Akram has lived in France, Prague, Cuba, Afghanistan, and currently residing in California.

Akram states “I grew up traveling everywhere so a lot of my songs and the production textures stem from being exposed to many different types of music and cultures”.

The easy listening NEW AGE album is not just elevator music it is soothing, inspiring music that rejuvenates the soul.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r99DIRPE2s

http://blog.omarmusic.com/videos/

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TOM WAITS: SINGER/SONGWRITER/ACTOR

Tom Waits, an American Singer/Songwriter/Actor, released his latest album BAD AS ME, out October 2011, which is nominated for a GRAMMY for “Best Alternative Music Album” 2013. His first Grammy was back in 1992.

Waits sometimes dubbed “America’s Craziest Uncle” was inducted into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame  in 2011. Click the link below for the presentation by Neil Young.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9laF_joukQs

Rolling Stone critic, Daniel Durchholz describes Waits voice “Like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for few months and then taken outside and run over with a car”, that pretty much describes it to a tee.

NPR ‘s  Jesse Dylan writes “Everything about Tom Waits is a contradiction of one sort or another: He cuts an unknowable and even otherworldly figure, yet his songwriting can be tear-jerkingly humane. He's untethered to eras or trends, yet his sound and the characters he inhabits are distinctly American. And, for all the ways his image classifies him as a lone wolf, he's one of music's great collaborators, having spent the last three decades working closely with wife and songwriting partner Kathleen Brennan.

Waits, of course, is an expert at feeding the mystery surrounding his deeply weird but strangely accessible music; to interview the man is to be led into a catacomb of misdirection and non sequiturs. But on his 20th album Bad As Me, out Oct. 24, Waits and Brennan continue to craft songs marked by uncommon empathy. Waits' first all-new studio record in seven years, it toggles constantly between heartsick vulnerability and hell-bound defiance: He may attempt to wake the devil in the stomping title track, commiserating with a lover who's "the same kind of bad as me," but a few songs later, he's grimly mourning his status as "the last leaf on the tree" — a survivor, but a lonely one.

For Waits, vulnerability and defiance are two sides of the same coin anyway; just listen to the blisteringly ramshackle "Satisfied," in which satisfaction and death are practically interchangeable. He may exude fatalism in "Pay Me" — a punch-in-the-gut ballad in which he memorably sings, "All roads lead to the end of the world" — but his delivery is a carefully controlled mix of ruefulness and realism. For Waits, ugliness and beauty both find ways to persist against all opposition. But in the end, amid these 13 songs' furious clatter and gutter-level grime, beauty improbably wins out”.

Tom Waits: Discography - Many well know artists have recorded his music, you may be surprised by his list of recordings.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Waits_discography

  

Warm Beer & Cold Women

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MUXDpYR6YE

Bad As Me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6Ta3H-ck6s

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SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA: ELECTRONIC DANCE

Swedish House Mafia released their 2^nd Compilation album UNTIL NOW, out 10/22/2012. Originating in Stockholm Sweden, Axwell, Steve Angello, and Sebastian Ingrossa, local disc jockeys formed Swedish House Mafia in 2008.

Their latest single ‘Don’t Worry Child’ (feat. John Martin) is nominated for a Grammy as “Best Dance Recording” for 2013. Their previous album UNTIL ONE, single release ‘Save The World’, was nominated for a Grammy 2012 for the “Best Dance Recording”.  Join the RAVE video link for “Don’t Worry Child”, as Britney Spears would say “It's amazing”.

While they are on a roll, the trio has decided to call it quits and kicked off their last tour November 2012 ending March 2013.

From Wikipedia: “Today we want to share with you, that the tour we are about to go on will be our last. We want to thank every single one of you that came with us on this journey. We came, we raved, we loved." 

Invite to “BLACK TIE RAVE”   2/28/2013 NYC for Sandy Relief

http://www.billboard.com/events/swedish-house-mafia-announces-black-tie-1008045632.story#/events/swedish-house-mafia-announces-black-tie-1008045632.story

“Don’t Worry Child”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y6smkh6c-0

“Save The World”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXpdmKELE1k

“Miami 2 Ibiza feast Tinie Tempah”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCH1AsUydSc&feature=endscreen&NR=1

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LUKE JAMES: SINGER/SONGWRITER

Luke James, the New Orleans native whose music presents a sincerity of unrefined soulfulness is a newcomer on the scene with his first single out ‘I Want You’, nominated for a Grammy 2013 for "Best R&B Performance".  While new on the recording end of the business, you may have heard his name before as a songwriter. There is no denying he has a beautiful soulful voice which ooze’s sex and seduction as an adult contemporary soul singer. Keep an eye out for future music from this guy. Check out his web-site for current info:  http://whoislukejames.com/

James co-wrote Chris Brown’s “Crawl” and has penned songs for Justin Bieber (‘That Should Be Me’) and Britney Spears (‘Kill The Lights’), among others.  James will appear on Beyoncé, new video “Run the World”.  James upcoming mix tape and album features  'Make Love to Me' a sizzling sensual video linked below.

. “This isn’t a fad for me,” declares James. “I’m willing to go wherever with this because music is everything to me. This is my world and how I see it. My music speaks for me in a way that’s relatable and truthful.”

When searching for information on Luke James you will find a lot of stuff on another guy by the name of Luke James, whose music is actually good but on the pop style of Jason Martz, and also Christian Gospel by a Luke James, but not sure if it is the same guy, but certainly the opposite end of the spectrum. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkt7fEA1cQE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1gbZTmPiYA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5h5NdW6cYY0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RCEDOBRPig

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PALOMA FAITH: SINGER/SONGWRITER

Paloma Faith released her second studio album FALL TO GRACE out December 2012 on iTunes. The 27 year old Hackney London native, brings to us pop rock/soft rock, and sometimes a little soul/jazz  vibe, as she emulates the late great Etta James, and the late Billy Holiday who were her early inspirations.

About a year ago in a conversation with my friend from Scotland, I asked who was hot on the ‘Pop Scene’ with the locals, and Paloma Faith was mentioned. At the time not much was out there about her or her music in the USA, but recently she has exploded on Google, youtube, and  iTunes and just about everywhere else.

FALL TO GRACE, reached Platinum status in the UK before it hit the USA markets, this past fall. The talented Faith is an artist to watch in the coming years, be it acting or singing/songwriting; she has a future in the entertainment business. This fall she toured briefly in the USA;  San Francisco, and the east coast cities, but no fears, she will be back.

Side Note:  You may recognize her face if you watch TV shows on the BBC, she is an actress and has been acting since 2006, on TV and in motion pictures as well as a singer/songwriter and recording artist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tr8MY0dyV2s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJHXpMMfnuw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHxO5PBNMnU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV1x_ZzxUYg

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